Site lets teachers post wish lists

By Cynthia Kopkowski, Staff Writer
Palm Beach Post
Thursday, June 24, 2004

Dirty britches and squirmy story times became the norm in Denise Martinez's class at Rolling Green Elementary School last year after her floor rug was confiscated for not being fire retardant.

Trying to avoid the same dilemma this year, Martinez recently asked for a $75 replacement on a fledgling nonprofit Internet site, iloveschools.com. She's hoping someone will donate the area rug that neither she nor parents at the predominantly poor Boynton Beach school can afford.

Similar to a wedding registry, teachers list on the Web site the items, from crayons to electronics, that they need for their classrooms. More than 300 Florida teachers, including five in Palm Beach County, have joined 6,000 teachers nationwide in signing up.

"We don't always have everything we need," said Martinez, a soft-spoken, third-year teacher.

That's what bothered Jerry Hall, a San Diego Web designer who started iloveschools.com a year ago after hearing that teachers spend nearly $500 of their own money annually for supplies and that school board budgets were increasingly hampered by accountability requirements and population booms.

But in explaining why he chose to spend roughly $35,000 of his business' profits, Hall strays into unorthodox territory for most education philanthropists -- unhappy memories.

"I really loved school in the beginning, and I didn't in the end," he said, declining to elaborate. "As a kid I made a promise that I would try to find a way to come back and make them better."

Hall also is unabashed about plugging his company, eWebLab, because he believes that more business will mean more profits that can be used to keep operating the nonprofit site and its skeleton staff.

"People have a natural suspicion of nonprofits lately, it seems," Hall said. "One hundred percent of our donations go right to the teachers. We're the type of charity that hopes we don't ever get any money."

Donors are encouraged to give directly to the schools, using the contact information provided.

Barbara Sutton, at Lawnwood Elementary in Fort Pierce, is asking for help to obtain art and office supplies and more.

At Wellington's Polo Park Middle School, special education teacher John Shoemaker hopes that someone will donate scissors and markers or maybe the $25 fans for the days when the air conditioning isn't working.

Even at a wealthy school such as Polo Park, where only 18 percent of families are poor, getting extras for the classroom can be tough, Shoemaker said.

"Our average family income at the school is $69,000, and we're still struggling to get supplies," he said. "I think the community wants to support us, but they don't know how."

cynthia_kopkowski@pbpost.com

Click here to read the article at PalmBeachPost.com

Click here to read I Love Schools, Inc. press releases.